Australian caps bill faces delay

The Australian government’s bid to cap international enrolments next year has hit a major logistical hurdle, after a crucial Senate committee inquiry into the underpinning legislation was extended for a third time.

Shadow education minister Sarah Henderson has successfully pushed for the Education and Employment Legislation Committee’s reporting date to be postponed until 8 October, in a move likely to forestall debate on the bill before late 2024.

The committee will also reopen submissions until 26 September and convene a fourth public hearing in Canberra on 2 October, during which federal government officials will face a third round of interrogation from senators.

The development curtails what many already considered an unworkably short timeframe for the caps to be imposed from January next year. With only three Senate sitting days scheduled in October, passage of the bill appears unlikely before the Senate convenes again for its last session of the year in the second half of November.

Ms Henderson’s Liberal Party supports caps on international students but has been highly critical of the government’s approach. The Labor government needs Liberal support to pass the bill, with the Australian Greens firmly opposed to the legislation.

The committee’s reporting debate had already been deferred from 15 August to 6 September, and then to 16 September. Ms Henderson said the latest deferral had been necessitated by the withholding of important information from the committee members, including the proposed caps for vocational education and training (VET) colleges.

She said VET colleges had been subjected to “gross discrimination” and denied the opportunity to make representations to the committee, because they had not been informed of their indicative caps.

“Labor has made a real mockery of the Senate inquiry process,” she told the Senate. “In the Senate hearings that we have had into the bill, the government has done everything it possibly can to keep the actual student caps provided to each higher education and VET provider a secret.”

Greens education spokeswoman Mehreen Faruqi said the government had disclosed the indicative caps for universities “the day after the first of our original final hearings”. After committee members pushed for a second final hearing, the government had disclosed the proposed VET caps while the hearing was in session.

Labor senator Louise Pratt, a former shadow assistant minister for universities, said the proposed caps had been “set out transparently” to institutions. “We need reform to ensure sustainable growth into the future,” she told the Senate. “We’ve got to cut out sham providers and people who are seeking to come to Australia simply to access the labour market.”

Independent senator David Pocock said the committee had heard “overwhelming evidence” that the bill had been “rushed”, “poorly drafted” and “poorly consulted on”.

Mr Pocock acknowledged concerns around international students’ motivations, “over” enrolments and impacts on housing affordability. “Sensible amendments…could make this legislation more workable, but there must be a delay in implementation.

“We simply cannot risk the reputational damage from rescinding offers that are already out there. I cannot see how government and higher education providers can possibly…implement this in a matter of months. We need to delay the start date, put a safety net and a buffer around the caps, provide a process to challenge individual caps, and sunset the extraordinary powers that this bill gives the minister.”

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com